STORRS, Conn. -
The University of Massachusetts (5-11-0, 3-7-0 Hockey East) fell to Bowling Green (6-11-1, 4-8-1 CCHA) on Thursday afternoon by the score of 3-2 in the opening game of the Toyota UConn Hockey Classic. The Falcons grabbed a quick two-goal lead in the second and held on for the win, despite a 42-17 UMass advantage in shots.

The teams skated to a 0-0 draw in the opening 20, but the Falcons struck first in the middle period with an even-strength goal at 6:31. Jonathan Matsumoto, who currently sits in second place among his teammates in scoring, came through with his 10th goal of the season. The goal was assisted by linemates Alex Foster and Mike Folk for the 1-0 score.

Bowling Green made it a 2-0 game just under two minutes later, with Bryan Dobek's second tally of the season at 8:24. John Mazzei and Brandon Svendson assisted on the goal, which beat Jon Quick high.

Facing its first penalty kill with Marvin Degon in the box for tripping at 8:44, Stephen Werner took a pass from David Leaderer and skated in alone on Jon Horrell for his seventh career shorthanded goal. The goal, Werner's team-leading sixth of the season, came at 9:31.

The Falcons regained their two-goal cushion with Matsumoto's second goal of the game, a power play goal at 15:23. Foster took the initial shot, with Matsumoto collecting the goal on the rebound. Folk also assisted on the sophomore's goal, which made it a 3-1 game to end the stanza.

Gabe Winer started the third period in relief of Quick, who made a total of eight saves on 11 shots through the first 40 minutes.

The Minutemen again brought it to within one with their own power play goal 4:07 into the final period. Matt Anderson started the play with a pass to Mark Matheson at the blueline, who then crossed the puck to Degon on the opposite side. Degon took the shot that deflected off of Anderson and into the net to make it a 3-2 game. The man-advantage goal marked the first time this season that UMass has scored on the power play in back-to-back games.

Winer was pulled in favor of the extra attacker with just under a minute remaining in regulation, and UMass came close to tying it up with 48 seconds left as a Werner shot was stopped just at the BGSU goal line. Calling timeout at the whistle, the Minutemen regrouped and again created a flurry in front of the net, but the puck was held against the board for an extended time and time expired on Massachusetts.

Overall, shots were 42-17 in favor of the Minutemen. Both teams were called for four penalties and were 1-for-2 on the power play.